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The June Gloom had faded away making room for an incredibly hot summer and I was sweating like a dammed person in the bowels of hell as I sat hopelessly lost in my car. I was too cheap to turn on the air conditioning in the 100 degree weather, due to my lack of job situation, and I was a vegetarian on a mission to find a Baconator from Wendy’s.
The interns from the first internship took turns gathering lunch orders and picking up fast food dishes all around town for the individuals at the office. Some of the places were right across the street or just around the corner from the building, and many of the staff members ordering from those places had simple orders. They tried their best to order food from the same place so that the interns didn’t have to run around as much, but other times the interns were lost in a sea of lunch orders that were scattered over multiple neighborhoods.
I guess I picked the short straw for that day, because I was sent out to get a Baconator for one of my bosses.’ I didn’t know this until after I had gotten back from my journey, but Wendy’s was incredibly hard to find and that it took a while for all of the interns to know exactly where it was.
I jumped into my flaming hot vehicle and ended up lost for almost forty-five minutes in traffic trying to find the Wendy’s. I circled the street, where the incorrect GPS directions on my broken smartphone were taking me, and I was getting honked at from angry motorists because I was trying to look at the map on the screen. I was absolutely frustrated and I was trying my best to get lunch back to my hungry boss, but the pressure of not being able to find a stupid Baconator, the blazing summer heat entering my car from the midday sun, and all of the other thoughts about life that I was having and the confusion about what I was wanting to do with my life all flooded over me and drove to tears.
There I was crying in the middle of a busy street in Los Angeles unable to find a Wendy’s and already sort of missing my mom and sister because it has been awhile since I had been back home. I eventually found a spot to look up another Wendy’s on my phone and drove another twenty minutes in traffic to pick up a Baconator and bring it back to the office.
“You ended up getting the fries right?” said one of my fellow interns to me as I walked in.
I had to hold back even more tears as I realized that I had f#cked up the order. I dropped the Baconator on my boss’ desk and swiftly slipped out of his office before he realized what I had done or why I had taken so long getting his lunch. I felt defeated as I slumped back in my seat and on my way back to my uncle’s house, but when I got there my mood actually took a one hundred and eighty degree turn.
I drove home wiping away the dried tears that had streamed down my face and pulled up to the house. I was so upset with myself because I couldn’t even get a Baconator back to the office without completely ruining the order. I stuck my key in the lock that was on the front door and I solemnly dragged my purse and laptop inside.
All of the sudden my uncle’s kids ran up to me with bright smiles on their faces and hugged me as I walked into the door. I got tiny kisses from my young cousin and literally laughed out loud as he showed me his new dance moves. I was welcomed with delicious pesto pasta and conversation from my aunt and uncle, and it was then when all my thoughts about my stressful day fell to the wayside.
These people fed me and let me bum off of them in the house that they just barely moved into, and they listened to me whine about my silly problems involving grabbing lunch orders. They were always interested in what I was doing, and took the time to include me in their family gatherings, and often made me feel less homesick and incredibly lucky to have the opportunity to stay at their house for the summer.
I went to bed that night, obviously still concerned that I didn’t have a game plan about where my life was going, but glad that I at least had the opportunity to try and find all of this out with the home that was opened up to me for the summer. It definitely made my life easier—and it relieved a lot of the burden that came with me not having a job. I was frustrated about my situation; but I was blessed to be so.
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